A statement was read in open court before Nicklin J on 5 December 2024 on behalf of the claimants, Zoë Harcombe PhD and Dr Malcolm Kendrick, in their long-running libel claim against Associated Newspapers. This recorded that several false and seriously defamatory statements had been made about them in articles published by The Mail on Sunday in 2019 in the context of their writings and other public statements about the cholesterol-lowering drug, statins.
The statement acknowledged publicly that the claimants had secured an apology from the publishers of The Mail on Sunday as well as substantial damages and costs.
The Statement in Open Court can be found here. Nicklin J’s judgment of 25 June 2024 following the preliminary trial of issues including the defendants’ s.4 public interest defence and meaning can be found here.
Dr Harcombe and Dr Kendrick were represented by 5RB’s Adrienne Page KC and Godwin Busuttil, instructed by Carter-Ruck.